Technical Information

Person

*/d_person 1001919

Name

Kawakami Otojiro

Notes

Actor. Born in Fukuoka. He came to Tokyo at the age of 14 and lived a vagabond's life for a while. He was influenced by the Liberal Party and started calling himself "Jiyudoshi". Despite severe regulations against the Freedom and People's Rights Movement, Kawakami became a pupil of the comic storyteller, Bunnosuke Katsura, in Osaka. He obtained popularity through Oppekepe-busi stories that satirized current events and called himself Ukiyotei Maru Maru. He launched Kawakami Shosei Shibai in 1891 and visited France in 1893. Upon returning to Japan the following year, he achieved great success with a war drama titled, "Sozetsu kaizetsu Nisshin senso" (The Sublime, Exhilarating Sino-Japanese War). Kawakami consolidated the foundation of Shinpa dramas. He opened Kawakamiza at Kanda in 1896, and in 1899, he and Sadayakko (actress and his wife) barnstormed in Europe and the United States with an organized troupe. After returning to Japan Kawakami presented translated dramas. After retiring as an actor, he became an impresario.